Without A Heart
by cerberus309
Summary: Shinigami leaves his most loyal with a job she most certainly doesn't want.  Particularly because its going to cost her her Father's love and presence.


Cerberus: I own nothing.

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><p>Heather had been daydreaming, staring out the window, when she first felt the presence of her Master and his pursuer.<p>

"Stop the car." she said.

"What?" her 'aunt' said, startled.

"Jess, we're in the middle of down town Florida traffic, I can't just STOP." Jackson said, amused.

"Are you feeling okay?" her friend asked.

Heather grit her teeth. "I said STOP!" she growled, flexing her will.

The brakes slammed to the floor and the car went into a sharp skid, the wheel was jerked from Jackson's hands and the car skid another several feet before coming to a dead stop running horizontally along the road and blocking several lanes of traffic.

Seconds later, a large ball of flaming metal fell from the sky, though no one had seen its approach, cracking the asphalt ahead of them upon impact a mere half a meter away from the car.

Heather was out the door despite Jake's grasping hands in seconds.

"Duo!" she yelled, bracing herself against the heat of the fire. "Fuck." she hissed. "Duo!"

"Jess!"

"Jess, get away from there its too hot!"

"Fuck you." she snarled over her shoulder. "Goddammit, Deathscythe" she yelled, glaring at the metal coffin. "Give him to me NOW!"

An angry, jerking gesture later, the cockpit door exploded outward and Heather _leaped_ over the flames.

"Duo-sama! Daijoubu ka?"

The braided teen inside, remained silent and unconscious.

"The boy's luck never ceases to amaze me!" a male voice shouted, trying to be heard over the roaring of the fire that was inching its way towards Heather and Duo.

Heather spun around, hissing so viciously it could be heard over the flames, horns, screams, and the distant sirens, crouching protectively over the open cockpit and her Master within it.

The large radius of light and heat was suddenly hammered with clouds of dust, darkness, and ice.

When the air cleared, Heather was gone, and a man, features hidden beneath a thin black cloak stood in her place.

"Jess!" Three voices screamed.

"You are mine, Shinigami. Eldest of Hades." the man hissed, lowering himself to reach into the cockpit.

**"Shinigami is the property of Death alone, Betrayer!"** a new voice growled, hoarse and rough.

From the fire itself, it seemed, a silver wolf, roughly the size of a small car slammed claws first into the chest of the man threatening Shinigami. Fangs made for the throat almost immediately, as the two combatants disappeared back into the fire.

All that could be heard of the fight, was grunting, snarling, and hissing, with the occasional yowl of pain from the wolf.

Suddenly, the wolf was launched through the air, and just barely managed to twist and catch itself on its paws, tail flicking anxiously just inches from Jake's face, who stared wide eyed at the beast.

"Who will you choose, Heather? Guardian of the Wolves? Your human _friends_ or the Master of your very being?" the man called, stumbling out of the fire by the metal container that held Shinigami. He was missing a chunk from his left arm, but he didn't seem very bothered by the bubbling blood that came from the wound and dripped down his arm.

The wolf, Heather, crouched lower, baring her fangs. **"You think this is a choice?"** she growled, revealing herself to be the source of the voice from the fire. **"I will _ALWAYS _choose my Master. Humanity has deserted me far too many times, for my loyalty to be so well bought."**

The man tilted his head arrogantly. "So be it." He reached out a blood covered hand towards the humans behind Heather, forcing his will into thier mind, convincing their minds that their bodies were suffering a severe heart attack.

Heather stood tense but apparently unmoved by the sound of the dying humans behind her. **"My choice was made...the moment Duo Maxwell gave his life for mine, and brought me back into the fold after 20 years of solitude."** she said quietly, almost to herself. **"Of this...I must remain strong."**

The man suddenly fell forward, gasping for breath he didn't need. The presence disappeared and the pain ended, Jake struggled to hear what was going on around him.

**"HUNTER!"** a new voice hissed, this one made the eardrums of every human around throb. "I taught you better than this. We protect humans, above all others. Even our own."

Heather snarled, shaking her head.** "No! _YOU_**** protect humanity. They are _your_ children, Shinigami. And they are yours to protect 'above all others'. I can no longer do the same."**

"Do you do as I command, Hunter?"

**"... You know I do, Master."** Heather whispered, lowering her head, ears flattening against her skull.** "But please, don't ask me to choose them over you."**

Shinigami's voice softened. "The time of the Powers is over, Heather. You know this. My dying wish. My father must _never_ get his hands on the human race. I leave them in the very capable paws of your kind. Rise up again, Heather, as the General I know you could have been. As the Alpha I know you were. And as the partner, I know you _can_ be."

Something on the metal death trap sparked and exploded high into the sky.

Heather's ears perked.** "DUO!"** she roared.

The braided teen pulled himself out of the wreck, grinning insanely, violet eyes brimming with a promise, Heather for once didn't want him to fulfill. For even Heather, who knew her Master like she knew every inch of her own limbs, knew he was not making it off of Deathscythe alive. "Protect my children, Heather. They are still so very young." he whispered, for his friend's ears alone. "Keep America and England strong. Give them both, armies worthy of an Alliance with Death."

**"What will I do without a General to guide me, Duo?"** Heather whispered, taking small steps towards the fire, like a pet towards her owner, she knew, but couldn't find in herself to feel disgraced.

"Live. Rise up. Be free. Your packs wait for you somewhere in the world, Heather. The packs you abandoned to come to my side. Just...try not to forget us, 'kay?" Duo whispered, giving her a soft, sad smile.

**"Never."** Heather whispered with a broken finality.

Duo nodded, and threw his head back, braid whipping around him. His voice, when he spoke next, was filled with the fathomless power of a god that knew no equal. **"I AM SHINIGAMI! LEADER OF THE SIX, GREATEST OF THE FIVE, ELDEST OF THE THREE! MY POWER, IN IT'S ENTIRETY, I LOAN TO THE GUARDIAN OF THE LUPINE RACE. USE IT WELL, FANG, AND MAKE ME PROUD TO HAVE FOUGHT WITH YOU."**

Heather whimpered, her ears flitting back against her skull and then forwards towards the teenager, burning to death on the metal contraption that had once been one of his most loyal partners. She could say nothing, until the teen had burned, laughing until the end.

**"I will make you proud,"** she whispered,** "Father."**

The great wolf threw back her head and howled mournfully.

Jake was hesitant, but the pain in the wolf-girl that he had come to know as a friend over the past few days, was calling to him, demanding that he do something to help her, even if it was just being a support. He lay his hand on her flank, the lightest of touches. He could feel her muscles twitch beneath his fingers, before he saw her ears twitch and the great head with the painful, guarded amber eyes turn to look down at him.

"I'm so sorry, Jess." he whispered, not knowing what else to say.

The wolf bore her fangs at him in what was undoubtedly a sneer of some kind.** "What would you know of the pain of loosing the most important person to you, human?"** she spat. **"I will do as he says, and protect the human race. But I will do so only because _HE_ is the one who asked it of me. Humans banished me from the one family I knew. Humans threw my caring and compassion back in my face. Humans killed my kin because we needed meat to survive and all that still lived was _THEIRS_. Humans"** her voice broke ever so slightly. **"...humans killed the heart of Shinigami when all they wanted was to protect one another. Shinigami would still be living...if _humanity_,"** she spat the word out venomously, **"hadn't torn his soul from him.**

**"I do not want your compassion, mortal. I do not want your pity."** Heather snapped her fangs at him, and Jake couldn't resist the instinctive jerk. The angry amber eyes rose to stare at the group of humans that had gathered around her. **"Your usefulness as a cover have ended. Stay out of my way."**

Turning, the wolf took one long leap and was gone, over the edge of the road and into the darkness that had once spat out the man that had helped to end what could have helped Heather trust humanity again. The very man that had disappeared as quickly as he'd appeared.

It wasn't long after, that the cops and fire department finally made their way to the scene. They quickly began questioning the people around them, and sending people home so the wreck could be cleared.

Hours later, Jake sat outside of the house that had once held his friend Jess, if he listened hard enough, he sometimes thought he could hear her aunt crying in the living room.

As he drove home, Jake could have sworn, he heard the unfamiliar cry, of an animal that was left without a heart.

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><p>Cerberus: I am still alive! I'm going through a strange stage in my life, so there hasn't been much writing for what I <em>do<em> have. This is clearly a depressing story, but if you wouldn't mind, how did you like it? There's potential for a sequel hidden deep within my unfinished folders. Or should it remain as it is, a One Shot?


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